April

Professor Mark Richardson to lead the IoP Department of Clinical Neuroscience

Monday 4 April 2011

The Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s is delighted to announce that Professor Mark Richardson has accepted the post as Head of Department for Clinical Neuroscience.

Mark Richardson is a neurologist specialising in epilepsy. He has been employed at the IoP for five years, and is the first Paul Getty III Professor of Epilepsy. Prior to moving to the IoP, he was a Medical Research Council (MRC) fellow at the UCL Institute of Neurology. His laboratory studies people with epilepsy using neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques.

His current work aims to understand the brain networks underlying epilepsy, how these network abnormalities affect cognition, and whether interventions targeting specific components of the network can improve epilepsy. He collaborates with mathematicians and engineers in developing computational models to explain phenomena associated with epilepsy and cognition.

Professor Richardson said: ‘This is a particularly exciting time for Clinical Neurosciences at the IoP, as we anticipate the opening of the Clinical Research Facility and the construction of the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute. With the help of my colleagues, I am looking forward to steering the department towards new successes. Professor Shaw has led this department with outstanding vision, and I am especially grateful to him for continuing to lead major initiatives.’

In congratulating Professor Mark Richardson on his promotion, Dean and Head of School at the IoP, Shitij Kapur, said: ‘I am pleased that Mark has accepted the role as Head of Department for Clinical Neuroscience. Principal Rick Trainor and I have been impressed with Mark’s past contribution to the advancement of neuroscience at the Institute and know that he will lead the Department well during these exciting times. While I welcome Mark, it is also a time to express our profound thanks to Professor Christopher Shaw who has ably led the department for several years. Chris has been instrumental in securing and nurturing the Wohl Clinical Neurosciences Institute during his tenure, and now that the construction has started, we will need more of his time to nurture that venture. In addition Professor Shaw will lead our Centre for Neurodegeneration Research into its next renewal.’